Rick (24), Ryan (20), Robert (18), and Raymond Ochoa (15) first began their journey in the entertainment business through acting. The boys have been involved in a variety of projects, including Disney’s hit show, “Pair of Kings” (Ryan) and Disney/Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” (Raymond). The brothers not only have a passion for acting, but for music, too.

They put together their own group, with a unique style of hip-hop mixed with rap and dance. Taking inspiration from EMINEM and LMFAO, they combined those artists’ styles to come up with their own, which they call “Hip-Hop Hype.” Their group name comes from their last name, but they are also known by the tag line “Boyz You Like.”

Alison has been a singer and performer from the start. She was born in North Carolina to a military family. They moved to California when she was two. She is the oldest of three girls and likes playing sports, along with her love for the stage.

Her outgoing personality has been noticed by many. At only four years old, she stunned a room of guests at a karaoke night in a restaurant. She asked if she could sing, and showed no hesitation when she was allowed to pick up the mic. She received a standing ovation, after amazing the crowd with her beautiful little voice.

This year I selected the Rising Star, Honor Roll and Box of Random videos that appeared on the JENNi20 Countdown each week. Now it’s YOUR turn to pick who will be featured in our special year-end show. This time, the tables are turned. WE tally up the rankings for the overall JENNi20 Countdown for 2012, but YOU decide which Rising Star, Honor Roll and Box of Random we feature. Which were your favorites from this year?

Click here to vote by 10pm PT on December 10th and tune in December 29th to see which were the favorites in each category.

Posted by Jen on Monday, December 3, 2012 at 12:54 pm Filed under Blog, Rising Stars · Tagged with

Actress and singer Claudia Lee will perform “Take My Hand,” one of her songs, on tonight’s episode of “Hart of Dixie.” Claudia plays Magnolia on the CW Network show. “Hart of Dixie” airs at 8e/7c. You can catch a preview of Claudia’s performance here.

Two of Claudia’s other songs, “Hollywood Sunset” and “3 Leaf Clover,” can be heard on JENNiRADIO.

Posted by Jen on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 5:18 pm Filed under Blog, Rising Stars · Tagged with

It took 16-year-old Claudia Lee (“Zeke and Luther” and “Hart of Dixie”) just two years to go from Hoosier teen to Hollywood starlet and rising country music singer. Although the journey has not always been easy, it’s one she hopes will continue for a very long time.

Originally from West Lafayette, Indiana, Claudia attended a performing arts camp in Vermont, where she met a friend who introduced her to talent agent Harry Abrams. He recommended that Claudia move to Los Angeles, where she could audition for film and TV projects.

With mother accompanying her, and father commuting between Indiana and California, Claudia moved to Hollywood to “test the waters.” Shortly after arriving, she landed a role in a national Comcast commercial with Zachary Levi from the TV series “Chuck” and in the short dramatic film “Circus Girl.” Next came Disney’s “Zeke and Luther,” in which Claudia plays Bridget, the romantic-interest of Luther (Adam Hicks).

“Adam is truly a nice person, and a lot of fun,” Claudia says. “Zeke and Luther was my first television job, so I had a lot to learn about the lingo and camera angles.”

Flow-Pops is a Hip-Hop/Pop group consisting of 3 members – Shawn, AnaLisa and Marie Griffin. They are a father and daughter trio, that have been performing together since 9-year-old twins AnaLisa and Marie were only 4 years old. With the response they received performing at such a young age, they knew they had something special. With Shawn writing music and rapping, along with AnaLisa’s and Marie’s voices, they are definitely rising stars.

Nicholas Martinez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is a talented teenage song writer and singer who has been supported by his family and friends. He’s loved singing since he was eight years old and it’s been his inspiration since then. “My first experience with music was when I sang ‘Pretty Women’ with my grandpa on his karaoke machine, and in that moment I was hooked” Says Nick. Through his career Nicholas has picked up a few roles in short films around New Mexico and in theatre. As much as he admires acting, singing was his main love. Since age 14, he as performed at different events throughout Albuquerque and Rio Rancho with Interplay Crew. In August of 2010 Nicholas got a small role in The Disney channel movie “Lemonade Mouth” which aired in April of 2011. In that year Nicholas had also developed taste for the piano. He started taking lesson soon after and had the basic skills to right his first song “Hey Girl.” “When I first wrote ‘hey girl’ I only had a melody in my head then started to pound on the keyboard, next I was starting to right some lyrics down.” Say’s Nick. He has had the opportunity to perform his single at a few events in Albuquerque within the last few months and song and Music Video are now up on iTunes and Youtube. He intends to start recording more music for his upcoming album “Something Different”.

Sammi Hanratty is no stranger to the big and small screen, booking her first lead in a television movie starring opposite Lacey Chabert and Wendie Malick in ABC Family’s Hello Sister, Goodbye Life. Sammi quickly built her resume with three concurrent recurring roles on ABC’s Pushing Daisies (Young Chuck), The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (Holly), and CBS’ The Unit with her older sister Danielle.

Sammi’s success is not limited to her television career. She has remained in demand by starring in numerous feature films including two upcoming movies where she played lead characters: The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone, shot entirely on location in Thailand, and The Greening of Whitney Brown, playing the title character alongside Brooke Shields, Aidan Quinn, and Kris Kristofferson. Hanratty has also shared the big screen with some of Hollywood’s finest including Cuba Gooding Jr, Ray Liotta, Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright and Cary Elwes. She worked with Oscar winning director Robert Zemeckis in the blockbuster, Disney’s A Christmas Carol, in which she had the opportunity to play several different characters.

Lou Wegner and Devin Fox are from Ohio and met while filming “In Darkness and in Light,” a short film by The Maine and Warner Brothers records. Devin and Lou became fast friends, started singing together, and formed the pop duo 2BLOND. They are animal activists concerned about the high rate of dog/cat deaths at US shelters and spend their free time at pet adoption events and networking for Kids Against Animal Cruelty, founded by Lou on Facebook. 1Life2Live was filmed at the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter in Los Angeles. The teens in the music video, Jennifer Smart, Caroline Sheehan, and Shira Rich are all supporters of animal rights. Proceeds from the downloads will benefit abused, sick, elderly and all animals on death row in US Shelters.

Cassandra Michaels is a Teen singer- song writer, actress and dancer currently living in Los Angeles. Her unique mix of pop rock combined with her fun and heartfelt lyrics makes her truly a one-of-a-kind artist. Cassandra’s music and upbeat, outgoing personality has her already attracting fans around the world.

Originally from the Midwest, Cassandra began singing at a very young age. By the time she was 8 Cassandra displayed a unique gift of music by teaching herself the piano, playing solely by ear. Soon after, she became interested in playing other instruments and began teaching herself guitar; by age 12 she was using both instruments to write and compose her own music.